Ballmer on search: 'I don't like not being No. 1' — SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said his company may be the only one with a chance to rival Google in search over the long term, but acknowledged that it will take several more years and a whole lot of money.

IPhone 2.2: Safari Redesign, Possible Cut and Paste — With the iPhone v2.1 software out of the door, Apple is hard at work on v2.2. From this first glimpse it looks like Apple, now that the major bugs have been squashed, is adding some new features. — The screenshot, unearthed by iPhone Atlas, shows a new Safari interface.

Apple cuts iPhone 3G build plan; Suppliers to take a hit — Apple reportedly plans to build 14 million to 15 million iPhone 3Gs from a previous target of 18 million for 2008, according to a report from Pacific Crest. — Citing “supply chain channel checks” Apple's is cutting its iPhone 3G buildout.

What Is The Deal With This Stupid Lighter iPhone App? — Everyone keeps talking about Smule's virtual lighter iPhone application called Sonic Lighter (iTunes link). — I wasn't impressed: there are no less than ten different virtual lighter apps in iTunes, which is what I'd call a saturated market.

Where Is Microsoft's Smartphone? Everywhere, Says Redmond — The smartphone wars are set for this holiday season: Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 3G versus new BlackBerry gadgets from Research In Motion (RIMM), and now Google's ‘G1’ Android GPhone. Oh — and dozens of gadgets running Microsoft's Windows Mobile.

Larry Ellison's Brilliant Anti-Cloud Computing Rant — Maybe Larry Ellison can do what the Business Technology Blog can't. — Earlier this week, we wrote that the term “cloud computing” now seems to apply to just about anything even loosely associated with the Internet, making it effectively meaningless.

Google Messes Up AdSense Exchange For Indian Rupee — A DigitalPoint Forums thread has a three page thread on the topic of Google messing up yet again with the exchange rate given to publishers. This time Google equated one US dollar to one Indian Rupee. The true current exchange rate is $1 US to 46.555 INR.

Full Pass of Acid3 — Today we would like to announce that WebKit is the first browser engine to fully pass Acid3. A while back, we posted that we scored 100/100 and matched the reference rendering. Now, thanks to recent speedups in JavaScript, DOM and rendering, we have passed the third condition …

Griffin iPod Dock Simplifies Cluttered Desks — Look what Griffin did! It's another iPod dock, but this time it's actually useful. The Simplifi comes in at $70, but for that you get to toss out your media card reader and your USB hub. There's also an AC adapter for juice-sucking …

How-To: Web server on a business card (Part 2) — This mini web server is slightly smaller than a business card. There are a lot of tiny one-board servers out there, but this is probably the smallest you can etch and solder at home. Unlike many embedded web servers …

Japan's online social scene isn't so social — TOKYO - Like a lot of 20-year-olds, Kae Takahashi has a page on U.S.-based MySpace, and there is no mistaking it for anyone else's. — It's got pictures of the funky Tokyoite modeling the clothes she designs in her spare time, along with her name …

Toshiba Launches 256GB Solid State Drives with MLC — TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation today announced enhancements to its line-up of NAND-flash-based solid state drives (SSD) with the addition of an industry-leading 256-gigabyte (GB) SSD and the launch of a series of small-sized Flash Modules …

Of The People, By The People, For The People — Politweets was one of the first to mix Twitter and politics. Other interesting mash-ups were created by C-SPAN for both the RNC and the DNC. There's also the amazingly cool Perspctv and of course there's Current TV's plan to Hack The Debate.

Larry Page blasts white space FUD on Capitol Hill — Google co-founder Larry Page says the time for delays has passed: he wants the Federal Communications Commission to open up fallow “white space” in the TV broadcast spectrum for unlicensed use, and to do it before November's presidential election.

Tellme for iPhone due by June — SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Microsoft is indeed working on an iPhone application. — As I predicted, it is the company's Tellme unit that is actively developing a program for Apple's iPhone. Tellme offers voice-activated search for a variety of phones, including the BlackBerry.

Microsoft may buy Yahoo and AOL if the latter two merge — Microsoft is quietly readying a plan to make a purchase of the combined Yahoo-AOL, should Yahoo pull off its plans to acquire the struggling America Online unit, according to sources close to AOL. — Microsoft was rebuffed …

Can These Startups Beat Paypal? — Despite the acceptance of credit cards and services like PayPal, the issue of getting money from one person to another online still offers opportunities for innovation. Venture firms are continuing to fund startups that hope to offer better ways to pay online …

College bookstores turn to kiosks to stem e-textbook tide — This week, the National Association of College Stores announced a new initiative that that will see digital vending kiosks tested at a number of major college campuses. The college bookstore trade group will form a distinct subsidiary …

Patent Crisis and The Age of Open Source Ideas — We live in an age when success of innovation is mixed with unprecedented failures. On one hand we're reinventing the web, fighting for a greener future and building genomix. On the other there are housing bubbles, credit crises and war.

Sony Price Dropping 40GB PS3 Model This Weekend — Ho Ho Ho, it looks like Christmas is coming early for fans of the Playstation 3 system. — According to a Blockbusters' memo leaked to us today Sony is permanently dropping the price of the discontinued 40GB model of the Playstation 3 starting Sunday.